


Nothing Outside

by Hrollo



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Character Study, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 08:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16552610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hrollo/pseuds/Hrollo
Summary: A glimpse at Lalli's internal monologue during a routine scouting mission. Set before the start of the first adventure, in the summer of year 89.





	Nothing Outside

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Windfighter and Scout for pushing me to write this.

Tuuri always tells me she'd want to go outside. I always tell her there's nothing outside. Just trees, trees, and more trees. She doesn't listen. And when there's something, it's bad. Outside is bad. But it's quiet. No one talks to me outside. Well, no people. Ghosts and trolls and other bad things try to talk to me. But they're easy to ignore. People, at Keuruu, they come right to my face, and they won't shut up. Tuuri does that. Onni does that. My boss does that. Other idiots do that. So noisy, all the time. Outside is quiet.

My boss told me to check this area, a bit to the east of the Häntämäki outpost. Of course, there's nothing there. Trees, trees, and more trees. And a beast. I kill it quickly. My knife's already in its head when it sees me, too late. More trees. See Tuuri? There's nothing outside. It would be simpler if I could just show her. But Onni says she can't go outside. No other beast nearby. I can perform the funeral rites for that one. Always a lot of blood, but I don't mind blood. Blood doesn't talk.

I found a pond with clear water. I can't sense anything dangerous inside or nearby. Weirdly quiet summer. Usually there are more trolls and beasts. Fine by me. I take my clothes off and swim in the pond for a bit. Then I float on my back. Outside is quiet.

I only stay like that for a few minutes. Can't risk anything sneaking up on me. I get dressed again and go back to work.

Further into the woods. Reaching the limits of how far I should go if I want to be back by morning. I don't like to think about going back. Getting inside Keuruu is always a pain. First have to remove my uniform, then getting sprayed with that weird stuff, then taking a shower, then getting dressed with my other clothes. Then I have to write a report. There's always a skald closely watching over my shoulder, and going "hmmm" if they feel I've not written enough. They don't do that with the other scouts. As if I'm still a small kid who can't be trusted. At least after that they let me eat and go to sleep.

Chills. My body stopped moving. There's something ahead of me. Something big. Giant? No, not big enough. Very large troll. Or maybe several trolls fused together. Probably why there were so few beasts. It scared them away. Or ate them. What do I do? Go back, tell people at Keuruu so they take care of it? No. I Think it sensed me. If I go back it will follow me. Too dangerous. I have to kill it myself.

I take my rifle and get ready to shoot. Come. I know you can smell me. Come over here. Right. I can see you.

I shoot.

Got it between the eyes, but it's still moving. I see, three heads. One down. It's trashing around and running. I need to move. It's trying to escape. But it can't move very fast because of the trees and bushes. I cut it off.

I shoot again. Two heads down. It's really angry now. Lots of trashing and screaming. It's climbing into the trees now, moving above ground. Hard to see it. Annoying. But I can feel it getting closer. You want to attack me from above? Ok then. I look for the right spot to do this. There, a small dip in the ground, good enough. I stand there and stop moving. I wait for it. Come.

It fell right where I was, but I wasn't there anymore. I'm above it now. I can see your last head. It looks at me. Too late.

I shoot. Three out of three. Doesn't move anymore. Good.

I need to go back now. Just enough time to be there by morning. And I'm tired. This was a tough one. Will have to write about it. Ugh. I bet Tuuri will ask me if I've seen anything. I keep telling her, there's nothing outside. Just trees, trees, and more trees.


End file.
